It’s all anyone is talking about down in Koh Kong lately. Lem Rom, the chief of Prek Ksach commune in Kiri Sakor district, was recently picked up by the Anti-Corruption Unit along with two accomplices. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has already formally charged them with bribery, facilitating online scam operations, and money laundering. According to local reports, the trio took cash from a Chinese man named Zhang Jianqiang—who also goes by Tsai Yu-yuan—and his associates to give illegal scam centers a free pass to operate in the commune. Zhang and his crew managed to slip out of Cambodia, but prosecutors went ahead and charged them in absentia anyway.
Prek Ksach, alongside neighboring Dara Sakor and Cham Yeam, has been right in the crosshairs of the government’s sweeping crackdown on cyber-scams. Officials say joint enforcement teams have already raided multiple suspected scam compounds across these areas. To stop these syndicates from simply changing their names and reopening down the road, authorities went as far as installing more than 50 CCTV security cameras along local streets to keep a constant eye on things. Koh Kong Deputy Governor Hei Leng made the numbers public back on September 17, confirming that police had detained 733 foreigners from nine different countries and confiscated a massive stash of equipment used in the operations.
This time, Phnom Penh is clearly playing hardball. Prime Minister Hun Manet drew a firm red line this week, giving local officials a direct ultimatum: from provincial governors all the way down to village and commune chiefs, anyone who fails to crack down on scam compounds in their jurisdiction—or half-asses the job—will be stripped of their post immediately. Out on the streets, amidst the usual hum of motorbikes and sputtering exhaust, the talk at the local coffee stalls is unanimous: for any local official hoping to turn a quick buck by shielding scam rings, those easy days are officially over.
